In this article

• Balancing response rate and lead qualification
• Designing web forms for a win-win
• How California Law can affect you, even when you aren’t based in California

Previously, I wrote about how people go through four levels in their business relationships with your company and how moving from one level to the next requires an investment of trust on their part.

This investment of trust is especially true when asking visitors to your website for their contact information (which is the second level: converting visitors to prospects).  By being customer-friendly in collecting and using your visitors’ information, you will encourage more people to trust your company with that information.

There are high-profile examples not to follow.  Silicon Valley intellectual property attorney Allen Lee writes about how Sony was found to have violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).  As recently as two weeks ago, Sony learned — through seven-figure civil penalties — that there are legal limitations to how you can collect and use personal information.

The importance of staying within both the moral and legal boundaries of what you can do with customer information is clear, and you can find detailed information at the Online Privacy Alliance and the Consumer Privacy Guide.

From an integrated marketing perspective, collecting customer information is the first step in building relationships with your prospects.  As such, your website must:

1. Clearly communicate how the information is used
2. Explain the benefits of providing that information
3. Make supplying that information as easy as possible

These three factors help you establish credibility and increase number of visitors who will give you their information.  Here are customer-friendly techniques you can use and traps to avoid.

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In this article:

• How Internet Marketing Is More Effective Than Traditional Advertising
• Tracking How an Actual Visitor Became a Lead
• Building a Stronger Reputation By Combining Internet and Traditional Marketing

Done correctly, Internet marketing is one of the most cost-effective mechanisms that businesses can use to generate leads.

The reason for Internet marketing is simple and ironic: permanence.   When a business launches a mail campaign, your pieces get delivered and you hope that you found enough people who are interested to make that mailing worth your while.

But most, if not all, of the mailings get thrown away.  People may not have even looked at them — and those that did may or may not remember your business. That’s why the author of The Fundamentals of Business to Business Sales and Marketing, John Coe, recommends mailing three times in a two to four week period in order to maximize effectiveness.  But after the mailers are sent, you have nothing of lasting consequence in your hands.  An online presence grows as you invest in it.
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In this article:

• SearchWiki Overview: What’s Important for Businesses
• How SearchWiki Impacts and Reflects Your Online Reputation
• Why SearchWiki Deserves Only Minimal Investment For Now

The folks up the street in Mountain View recently launched the ability to customize and comment on search results using its Google SearchWiki. Because the comments made on SearchWiki are public, business and website owners need to adjust to these new features in order to maintain and cultivate their online reputations.
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In this article:

• Why some websites won’t return your investment
• What a good-looking website can and can’t do
• The 5 C’s for building productive websites

One of the most common issues I hear from clients is that they built a website but aren’t getting any return on their investment.  The complaint is the same from clients who spent a small fortune at an ad agency to ones who tried to cut a few corners: no ROI.

The problem is so pervasive that many businesses not doing e-commerce think of websites purely as cost centers or online brochures and not as a steady source of leads and revenue.  Companies using this type of conventional wisdom are leaving money on the table.
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